


And In Twenty Years My Dear, Will You Remember Then?

by howthemoonsuitsthenightsky



Category: Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Dancing, F/M, Fluff, and so I needed to keep this going until we're all back to being clowns next week, yesterdays episode literally killed me off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 22:06:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21126002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howthemoonsuitsthenightsky/pseuds/howthemoonsuitsthenightsky
Summary: For the first time in a long time, Gilbert and Anne find themselves alone and reminiscing of times long past.





	And In Twenty Years My Dear, Will You Remember Then?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic that I'm publishing in the Anne with an E fandom cause I can't not want to share the Shirbert cuteness. Literally only discovered the show two weeks ago and they've destroyed me throughout every second of it.

The first year of their marriage, according to Anne, had been bliss. The spectacle of living together, of being able to hold each other, kiss each other, whenever they liked; Anne had believed would never get old. But then had come the stillbirth, the increased hours at the surgery, the awaited patter of little footsteps on their wooden floors and everything in between. That wasn’t to say that things weren’t good now, but they were not entirely the same.

What Anne missed above all else was the time they used to spend alone together, so when Marilla and Mrs Lynde offered to have the children for a week, Anne was sure having forgotten how much Delphine used to tire them out, she couldn’t say no. Barring any real emergency, Gilbert had been able to ensure that he wouldn’t need to work most days and it was decided that they would take a trip to Queen’s for a few days to see some old college friends. 

Anne almost couldn’t believe the quiet she returned to after escorting the children over to Green Gables. For the first time in years she heard the creek the kitchen door made and the birds singing outside the windows. She couldn’t help but take a deep breath in and chuckle to herself. 

In the middle of her hysterics, the door opened behind her. Before she could turn around to see who it was, she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist and start to spin her around. “Gilbert!” she exclaimed between giggles. “Gilbert Blythe!”

She was gently set down, her boots hitting the wooden floor with a small tap. Spinning around suddenly, which in hindsight was a mistake after being lifted in circles, she turned to face her husband before swooning at the swimming in her head. The strong arms which had encircled her waist steadied her, holding her firmly in place. “I’m excited as well, Anne, but not so much that I can no longer stand up straight.”

Anne, knowing that he was only teasing, but still slightly annoyed, moved to stand up straight so that she could look him in the eye. “I think we all know that that’s not why I felt faint.”

Gilbert raised an eyebrow in return, drawing up the corner of his mouth in the process. “Ah true, must have just been the sight of the dashing young man in the room.” 

Though Anne couldn’t deny the beauty in his dark eyes and round lips she still exclaimed, “Gil!” Anne found herself lightly slapping his chest and being rewarded with a kiss that made her hang onto his shirt over the place where she had hit him. 

Having succeeded in leaving his wife breathless once more, Gilbert let her go and paced back over to the door, working himself out of his outer clothes. “How was Green Gables?” His question came just as Anne was admiring how the muscles in his back moved as he removed his coat and she had to shake her head momentarily before she could answer.

“Well, or as well as expected. I think Marilla and Mrs Lynde are in for quite a shock though.” Anne shook her head at the memory of Jem and Walter running in circles around the kitchen table as she was leaving. 

“Won’t they just be!” Having finished as much undressing as was necessary, though Anne may have disagreed with the precise amount, he came back over to her and slid his arms around her, smiling as she repeated the gesture. “And how do you feel about leaving them there?”

“Perfectly fine,” Anne replied with a firm nod.

“Are you sure?” At her frown he continued. “You cried when we left them for a day to go to Charlottetown not three months ago.”

She leant forward to bury her head in his chest. “Well, I’m not in the spirit of denial, but that was completely different, inexplicably different.” 

Gilbert simply hummed and brought his lips down to kiss her auburn hair. “Want me to take your mind off it for a bit?” He felt Anne nod against his chest and hugged her closer. “I found out that for one evening this week, we’ll be going to a dance.”

Anne sprung back so unexpectedly that Gilbert missed having his chin knocked by a mere tenth of an inch. “A dance! Really? Oh, that will be magnificent. We can spend the whole night twirling around the floor, arm in arm and when the dresses swish outwards, as they can only be intended to at a dance, it will look stunning. Oh, I am ever so excited!” She once against descended into momentary giggles, to which Gilbert couldn’t help but join in. Her laughter cut off suddenly and it took Gilbert a couple of seconds to catch onto the silence. “But we haven’t danced in so long. I know I’m terribly out of practice.”

“Well, we’re not leaving until tomorrow afternoon,” Gilbert pondered in reply. “We have plenty of time to practice.” With a smirk, he took her hand in his and stepped back so they were an arm’s length apart. “Mrs Blythe, may I have this dance?” He dipped his head and looked up at her through his eyelashes in a way that had Anne ready to swoon again. 

“Of course, Mr Blythe,” she managed to reply. 

And then they were back in each other’s arms, swirling around the kitchen table, their bodies flush against one another and smiles plastered across their faces. When Gilbert released her, a part of her was disappointed, but the spin he sent her in left her no room to think. Then they were back together, moving with each other across the floor under Gilbert’s command. As they started to slow, Anne could sense that this dance was coming to an end, and by this point she didn’t want to protest as she could feel fatigue creeping into her legs and arms. Before they could stop completely, however, Gilbert used his own body to lower hers, dipping her closer to the ground and suspending her above it. When he placed his lips on hers, Anne could feel the sweetness of their years of friendship and love reverberating throughout them both. 

Breaking them apart and bringing them back to standing, Gilbert leaned back so that he was half-sitting against the kitchen table. He left enough space for Anne to snuggle up against him, her head resting in the crook of his neck.

The silence around them as they let their breathing slow seemed like a sheet of ice, so beautiful, yet so easy to crack, so when Gilbert broke it, he chose to do so with a whisper. “Do you remember the first time we danced together?”

“How could I forget?” Anne replied, her warm breath making hairs at the base of Gilbert’s neck stand on end. 

“It’s something I’ll remember five, ten, twenty years from now. For the rest of my life.” Anne could only hum in agreement in response. “I wanted to kiss you then, you know. Part of me didn’t care that we were in a room full of people, that we weren’t courting, that I hadn’t put anything on that stupid take notice board.” This earned a small laugh from his wife that he felt go through his chest. “I wanted to take you in my arms and kiss you there and then in that classroom.”

“Part of me wishes you had. Could you have imagined Mrs Lynde’s face?” Anne’s small laugh turned into a snicker and Gilbert pulled himself back from her so that they were at eye level.

“And here I was trying to have a romantic moment,” Gilbert managed to get out before descending into laughter. “Mrs Lynde!”

As the sound faded back to silence, Anne took on his more serious nature. “Well, if you think about it, if Mrs Lynde hadn’t spent that afternoon teaching us to dance, we might have never started courting! She should have had her own toast at our wedding for such a feat.”

Gilbert could only roll his eyes at his wife’s imagination. “No, I think we would have ended up together either way. I love you far too much for there to even be a possibility of us not being together.” With his declaration, he brought their lips together in the gentlest of ways, as he would have wished to back in the school room in Avonlea all those years ago.


End file.
